This invention relates to footwear designed specifically for infants and toddlers.
It has been recognized that the most important consideration in connection with shoes for infants and toddlers, i.e., children ranging in age from about three months to about forty-eight months, is fit. A properly fitting shoe will not only permit a child's rapidly growing foot to develop normally, but will also allow the various orthopedic conditions with which it has been estimated between 50 and 90 percent of children are born to resolve themselves.
Properly fitting infant and toddler shoes will exert little or no pressure on the sides of the feet and have sufficient toe room that, when the child stands, the foot can assume the same position as if the child were barefoot. In other words, infant and toddler shoes should be big enough to let the toes spread without cramping. The shoes also should be flexible and well ventilated.
Conventional shoes which have been specifically designed for infants and toddlers are not entirely satisfactory. In particular, typical conventional infant and toddler shoes are constructed having a sole and an upper which form a rigid, inflexible toe box or toe cap in which the child's toes are received. The width of the toe box is fixed and invariable. Accordingly, even if the shoe is properly fitted when initially purchased, the conventional shoe will by its very design cause pressure to be exerted on the foot. Furthermore, the growth of a child's foot at this age is so rapid that the toes become cramped within the toe box and the pressure exerted on the sides of the foot increases after only a relatively short time.
The construction of conventional shoes for infants and toddlers makes it extremely difficult to achieve a proper fit in the first instance. Most toddlers have relatively wide feet and it has been estimated that 80 percent of all toddlers have an "E" or greater width. Moreover, toddlers tend to reflexively curl their toes during a shoe-fitting procedure. Since the toe box is of a rigid, inflexible construction, it is difficult to insert the wide child's foot into a conventional shoe, regardless of whether the shoe is of the correct size or not. This usually results in the shoe being incorrectly fitted.